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SHORT REPLY 



SPEECH OF EARL ABERDEEN, 



OK THE 



STATE OF NEWFOUNLAND, 



BY 

A MEMBER OF THE HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY, 

OF NEWFOUNDLAND. 



LIVERPOOL ; 
PRINTED BY EGERTON SMITH AND CO., LORD-STREET. 

1839. 









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TO THE 

RIGHT HONOURABLE THE EARL OF ABERDEEN. 



My Lord, 

That your Lordship (on the exparte statement of a few indi- 
viduals, greatly inflamed in the " paltry raffle" of colonial faction) 
should have pledged your high name and character to the truth 
and justice of the charges which you made against the House of 
Assembly and people of Newfoundland, and reported from your 
speech in the House of Lords, on the 26th April last, is to me a 
matter of surprise. During the short period your Lordship pre- 
sided over the colonies your instructions to the colonial governors 
displayed an intimate acquaintance with the state of conflicting 
parties, and were distinguished for a somid, enlightened, and liberal 
policy. I am, therefore, the more surprised that your Lordship 
should be led away by the inflammatory and high-coloured state- 
ments contained in the petition presented by your Lordship, and 
which on the face of it carried its own refutation. 

Your Lordship has preferred a bill of indictment against the 
House of Assembly of Ne^vfoundland. As one of the humble 
members of that body, and on their behalf, I plead not guilty 
to the charge ; admitting, at the same time, that if you can esta- 
blish a tithe of the charges, the people of Newfoundland are not 
worthy to enjoy the benefits of the free constitution granted by 
his late Majesty, and that it ought to be abrogated. 

The Secretary of State for the Colonies, in reply to your Lord- 
ship, stated that there were parties in this comitry connected vdth. 
the House of Assembly who denied the allegations made by the 
petitioners, and offered to come forward at any time to disprove their 
statements. The persons alluded to by his Lordship must be the 
Clerk of the House, Mr. Wakeham, and myself, the only parties 
now in this country connected mth the House of Assembly. The 
Marquis of Normanby permitted me to wait on him at the Co- 
lonial-office, and, agreeably to his Lordship's wishes, I drew up a 
short report on the charges made by the Chamber of Commerce of 
St. John's, and the merchants of London, Liverpool, Bristol, and 
Poole, against the proceedings of the House of Assembly. Tliis 
report was ^^Titten in great haste, and I now submit a copy of it to 
your Lordship, in which you will observe that I have anticipated 



the charges made by your Lordship against the House of Assembly 
and the much-calumniated people of Newfoundland. I might rest 
the defence of the colony on that plain, simple statement of facts, 
wliich cannot be contradicted, but there is some new matter con- 
tained in your Lordship's extraordinary speech that I shall pass a 
few remarks upon. 

You have stated that the House of Assembly have usurped the 
powers of the State ; tyranized over the peaceable, loyal inhabi- 
tants. You have stated that the whole fabric of society has been 
jlung into confusion ; that life and property is insecure ; that the 
country is on the eve of rebellion ; that all these misfortunes have 
been brought on the colony by the acts of what you call the " base 
House of Assembly;" and you call on her Majesty's Govermnent 
to send out an adequate military force to protect the loyal and to 
overawe the disaffected ; and, as a climax to these frightful charges, 
you say the House of Assembly have laid hands on the public 
purse, and divided a great portion of it between themselves, their 
famihes, and retainers. 

I give this summary as a small sample that I have selected from 
your Lordship's speech. The reckless manner in which the 
petitioners have made these charges, — and, pardon me, my Lord, 
if I say, the hasty and inconsiderate manner in which your Lord- 
ship repeated them, makes it an easy task to dispose of and con- 
trovert them. Were your Lordship not carried away by some of 
the party spirit of the petitioners you would, at once, have detected 
the gross absurdity of the charges, and have seen that they carried 
with them their own contradiction. 

It would be following the rude, coarse example of the petitioners 
if I said they w^ere one tissue of falsehood and misrepresentation 
from beginning to end. I shall not say it, but I hope to prove 
them to be so. Your Lordship must know that in courts of jus- 
tice presumptive evidence is often more conclusive, and more to be 
relied on, than direct evidence. In the present case that doctrine 
is exemplified. Your Lordship has adduced the evidence of the 
petitioners against the House of Assembly and people of New- 
foundland. You charged them with the highest crimes ; with 
setting her Majesty's courts of justice at defiance ; with sedition, 
bordering on rebellion ; mth outrages on persons and property. 
At the instant your Lordship made these statements, her Majesty's 
Colonial Minister, whose especial duty it is to watch over her 
Majesty's Colonies, cooly stated that he was unacquainted with this 
alarming state of the colony, but that he would immediately write 
to the Governor, to request that he would enhghten him on the 
subject. 

At the same time, the late Governor-General of the North 
American Colonics (a few montlis only returned from the seat of 
liis government) acknowledged that he was equally in the dark. 

Here, my Lord, J shall place my presumptive evidence, the 



ignorance of the Colonial Minister and the Governor-General of 
the facts stated by the petitioners, against the direct evidence of 
the petitioners themselves. There is no court of justice in the 
world, hut your Lordship's House, that such evidence would be 
attended to for one moment. 

If the colony of Ne^vfoundland has been so long in this alarming 
state, unknovni to the Minister of the Crown, he has been guilty 
of great neglect of duty, and should be impeached. Wnat has the 
Queen's Governor been about all this time ? Has he allowed the 
disaffected to mature their plans of rebellion without interruption ? 
Has he not communicated with her Mi-jesty on the subject ? Has 
he not called for aid to uphohl the supremacy of her Majesty's 
Crown in her oldest colony ? Either the ^Minister and the Gover- 
nor have been guilty of the greatest dereliction of their duty, and 
ought to be impeached, or the statements made by your Lordship 
are gross fabrications. If you believe the statements of the peti- 
tioners, it is yom- duty to follow the manly example of my Lord 
Roden. He has impeached the Marquis of Normanby for acting 
justly to Ireland; for thro\^'ing open the doors of the dungeon; 
for the exercise of the highest attribute of royalty. 

The former Irish Secretary, the late Colonial Minister, is ahnost 
as guilty as the Marquis of Normanby. He also threw open the 
dungeon gates to the oppressed captive. He, in the name of his 
Royal Mistress, exercised the di^dne prerogative of mercy almost 
without Hmit, in every chme w^here England's flag floated in the 
breeze, indicating her dominion from the frozen regions of the 
North to the burning sun of the South. No matter which their 
country, what their colour or their creed, he wrested the lash from 
the hands of the taskmasters of Jamaica, reeking with the blood 
of millions of the human race ; he punished judicial delinquency in 
Newfoundland; he then also threw open the dungeon bars to the 
victims of oppression. He is every way worthy to be united ^^'ith 
the modern Strafford. Will not the saintly Crusaders include him 
amongst their \dctims ? What a pity it is that they cannot make 
a Barebones Parliament to complete their holy work ! Your Lord- 
ship must pardon tliis digression. I now call your attention to 
another charge which you made against the House of Assembly, 
of appropriating the public money to their oa^ti use and that of 
their families and retainers. Surely, your Lordship could not be 
serious when you made this charge. A\niat will youi' Lordship say 
when I tell you that the House of Assembly have not appropriated 
one shilling of the public money that has not met the deliberate 
sanction of the Council, the Governor, and her Majesty's Govern- 
ment ? And, for an eloquent defence of the House of Assembly, I 
have only to refer you to a despatch fi'om Lord Glenelg to Captain 
Prescott on this head. 

In my report to the Marquis of Normanby I have made some 
remarks on the main charge against the Assembly, the connnittal 



6 

of Dr. Kiely for a breach of privilege. The proceedings of the 
House of Assembly, in this case, involves a great constitutional 
principle. I do affirm that the " base" House of Assembly of 
Newfoundland is a co-ordinate and supreme branch of the local 
legislature, and its right to protect its own privileges rests upon the 
same basis as the House of Commons of England. The Queen, 
Council, and House of Assembly of Newfoundland are equally 
"^ "j p f o reign and supreme over the Island of Newfoundland, as the 
Queen, Lords, and Commons are over the United Kingdom of 
Great Britain and Ireland. The first principles of government 
require that they should have power to protect their privileges ; 
the Ne\vfoundland Assembly would be indeed a burlesque and 
mockery without it. 

The petitioners that your Lordship has taken under your protec- 
tion modestly ask, first, that the Constitution should be abrogated, 
and a Governor and Council appointed to replace it. They also 
require that the Governor should be dismissed, the two senior 
Judges superseded, and a military force sent out to protect the 
loyal inhabitants. This modest request reminds me of an anec- 
dote, related I believe in Lord John Russell's boo'< on the British 
Constitution : — A gentleman got displeased with his mansion, and 
he applied to an architect to improve it, who said, " that the 
foundation of the house should be removed, and the bed of the 
river changed." The only remark I shall make to your Lordship 
on this head is, that if the Government comply with the first part 
of their request, I would strongly recommend them to comply 
with the last, establish despotism in the form of Governor and 
Council in Newfoundland. You must uphold it by military force, 
and then, my Lord, to use the words of Burke, " your rule will 
not be government, it will be war against the people." 

You will find in my memorial to Lord Normanby that I have 
made some remarks on the overcharged statements respecting the 
influence of the Catholic clergy in Newfoundland. To prove how 
utterly unfounded that charge must be, I have only to mention 
the state of the Newfoundland constituency. In Newfoundland 
we have household suffrage. In the districts of St. John's, Fery- 
land, Placentia, and St. Mary's, there are 4,139 houses, 5,799 
Protestants, 22,839 Catholics, who return six members to the As- 
sembly. The districts of Conception Bay, Bonavista Bay, Burin, 
Fortune Bay, Fogo, and Trinity contain 6,686 houses, 30,512 
Protestants, 14,060 Catholics, and send nine members to the House 
of Assembly. It therefore clearly appears that the Protestants 
send nine members, and the Catholics only six. What then be- 
comes of the charge against the Catholic priests and Catholic 
supremacy ? 

I shall pass over the coarse personal attacks made on the Mem- 
bers of the House of Assembly. Posterity will judge of that 
House from its acts, not from the misrepresentations of its ene- 



mies. Before the establishment of a House of Assembly, there 
was not ten miles of a good road in the whole island ; now, there 
are upwards of two hundi'ed miles about being completed. Before 
the establishment of the House of Assembly, there was not one 
school in the island supported at the public expense ; now, there 
must be more than fifty. 

Agriculture has improved ; cultivation has increased ; the annual 
value of agricultural produce is now worth more than £ 1 70 ^i§fti^^^^ 
annum. In twenty years it will be five times that amount. Little ^ 
more than twenty years ago it was a penal offence to cultivate 
the soil. 

Instead of lending your name to inflame the hatred of local 
and contending parties, I wish your Lordship would join in the 
good work of impro\ing the physical and moral condition of the 
people of Newfoundland. You were quite irdstaken in the opinion 
that the soil of Newfoundland is not capable of improvement. 
Give Newfoundland the same encouragement that you have given 
your other colonies, and you will find it capable of gi^'ing employ- 
ment and subsistence to millions of inhabitants. Make inquiry 
into the state of her fisheries, completely monopolized by the com- 
mercial rivals of England; acquaint yourself with the fact that there 
are at this moment more than twenty thousand French seamen, 
and an equal number of American, employed on her shores, 
ready, at a moment's warning, to be called on to man their respec- 
tive navies. The Government of France grants upwards of 
£300,000 for the encouragement of her Newfoundland fisheries, 
and on the condition that the fishermen when called on are to man 
the navy of France. 

These are subjects worthy the deep attention of the British 
senator. Believe me, my Lord, such a course on your part would 
be more honourable and more useful than bringing unjust and un- 
founded charges against the House of Assembly, and the people of 
New'foundland. 

Notwithstanding your Lordship pledged yourself for the state- 
ments made by the petitioners, yet you said you were not prepared 
to go the full length with them ; yo\i could not agree to the 
destruction of the Newfoundland Constitution. I cannot conclude 
this short addi'ess to your Lordship without expressing my sincere 
thanks even for this avowal. I naturally feel a parental affection 
towards that Constitution. I have devoted the best part of my 
life, and expended much of my property, to obtain it. I may say 
I sat by its cradle ; and, indeed, it would be to me a bitter day if 
I should live to " follow its hearse." I entertain the strongest 
faith in the miraculous power of free British institutions. With 
Sir James Mackintosh, I believe them to be the parent of arts — 
the parent of connnerce — the parent of w^ealth — the parent of 
every virtue. 

Free British institutions were granted to all the other English 
colonies: i" ti-^i.- ir,fqnrv. Nearlv three v.f.m->jt were allowed to 

- -z 



elapse before they were ceded to Newfoundland,---tlie oldest English 
colony, — the fii'st fruits of the naval enterprise of England. Earl 
Ripon, in his noble despatch to Sir Thomas Cochrane, in the 
year 1832, conve}dng the King's charter, said, — " It was super- 
fluous to accumulate reasons in proof of the propriety of esta- 
blishing in Ne\^-foundland that form of Constitution which gene- 
rally prevails throughout the British transatlantic __colonies ; the 
difliculty would consist rather in finding valid arguments for v\dtli- 
holding it." To gratify a heartless, withering monopoly, the people 
of Newfoundland were so long deprived of their inherent rights of 
British subjects. This, my Lord, is the cause, and the only cause, 
why Newfoundland has lagged behind in the onward course of 
improvement and civilization ; centuries rolled along, and she 
remained in a state of pristine barbarism, until the "atrocious acts" 
of her " unprincipled" House of Assembly for six short years have 
brought into life and animation more of her long neglect, her 
inexhaustable internal resources, than the centuiies of despotism 
that preceded. I do not wish to hide the fact, that, at this mo- 
ment, society in Newfoundland is in any state but that of unruffled 
calm : it is greatly agitated : there is a war of conflicting opinions. 
No reflecting mind can be surprised at it ; the sudden transition 
from almost absolute despotism to freedom will account for it. 
After all, it is not more so, than in more favoured colonies in her 
immediate neighbourhood. The people of Newfoundland join in 
the universal resistance to local oppression and irresponsible 
government. Agitation in Newfoundland, as in every other colony, 
\\dll be interminable, if this master grievance is not redressed, no 
matter what may be said by interested parties, by vain, presump- 
tuous charlatans. If, my Lord, you wish to make youi' rule over 
the colonies permanent, you must adopt the wise counsel of Lord 
Durham, and allow the colonies in all local concerns to govern 
themselves. It is, I believe, Mr. Burke that said, " if you wish 
to please any people, you must give them what they ask, not 
what you think best, for then such an act may be a wise regulation, 
but it is no concession." 

The attempt to direct the local affairs of the colonies by de- 
crees from Downing-strcet, has signally failed. When the late 
able, benevolent, high minded Secretary could not succeed, I shall 
have no confidence in those who may succeed him, even though he 
possessed the wisdom of a Lycurgus, a great Lord Bacon, or Sir 
Francis Bond Head himself. At the moment of concluding this 
hasty letter, the unwelcome intelligence has arrived of the resigna- 
tion of Her Majesty's Ministers. Your Lordship may be the suc- 
cessor of Lord Normanby, and, without intending the shadow of 
offence to your Lordship, I should most heartily regret it. Re- 
ferring you to my memorial to Lord Normanby, 
I am, my Lord, 

Your obedient Servant, 
u.erp..i,Ma,j%\na. PATRICK MORRIS. 



TO THE 

MOST NOBLE THE MARQUIS OF NORMANBY, 

Her Majesty''s Principal Secretary of Stale for the Colonies. 



My Lord, 

As one of the representatives of the district of St. John's 
in the Colonial Asssembly of Newfoundland, T hope I may be 
allowed the privilege of humbly addressing your Lordship, in 
reply to the charges recently made against the character of the 
people of Newfoundland, but more particularly against the acts and 
proceedings of the House of Assembly, and contained in a petition 
from the Chamber of Commerce of St. John's, and in memorials 
to her Majesty's Government, from the merchants of London, 
Liverpool, Bristol, and Poole, engaged in the trade. 

I am ready to admit the respectabihty of the parties who make 
these charges ; they compose a great majority of the merchants 
engaged in the trade and fisheries, and if their complaints are well 
founded, they are fully entitled to the most favourable considera- 
tion from her Majesty's Government. 

The allegations against the people and the House of Assembly 
may, in substance, be classed under the following heads : — 

Firstly, — That society in Newrfoundiand is in a disorganized 
state, — life and property insecure, owing to the violent acts and 
proceedings of the House of Assembly. 

Secondly, — That the members have held treasonable correspond- 
ence with the leaders of the rebels in Upper and Lower Canada, 
and have endeavoured to propagate amongst the people principles 
of sedition and disaffection to her Majesty's Government. 

Thirdly, — That the Catholic clergy are the chief ad\dsers and 
promoters of these violent proceedings, — that they exercise un- 
bounded influence over the House of Assembly and the electors, 
who are mere instruments in their hands. 

Fourthly, — That the House of Assembly have squandered the 
public revenue, — involved the country in debt, and have greatly 
injured the interests of the country. 

Fifthly, — That the proceedings of the electors and their repre- 
sentatives in the House of Assembly, since the establishment of a 



10 

local legislature, has proved the people of Newfoundland unfit 
for the enjoyment or exercise of the representative government 
granted to them by his late Majesty William the Fourth. Under 
these heads may be classed the various charges brought against 
the colonists by the Chamber of Commerce at St. John's, and the 
merchants engaged in the trade residing in London, Liverpool, 
Bristol, and Poole ; and the objects of the prayer of their petitions 
and memorials are, — that her Majesty's Government would, in the 
first place, send out an adequate military force to protect the lives 
and property of the loyal and peaceable ; and further, that the 
present Constitution should be abrogated, and that a mode of 
government, to consist of a Governor, assisted by a Council, to be 
named by the Crown, shoidd be established in its place. 

If the respectable merchants on this side of the water, and the 
Chamber of Commerce at St. John's, had, instead of these general 
and sweeping charges, only stated some of the particular facts 
where life and property have been endangered, they would be more 
likely to gain credence with her Majesty's Government. They 
have not done so ; and I shall, as the humble advocate of the 
people of Newfoundland, at once meet them, and with a reply 
equally general, by saying, without fearing contradiction, and after 
an intimate acquaintance with the people for upwards of thirty 
years, that in no part of her Majesty's dominions are life and pro- 
perty more secure than in her ancient colony of Newfoundland. I 
shall not content myself with this general statement, but I shall 
demonstrate the peaceable and moral conduct of the people of 
Newfoundland by the strongest proofs, .which will defy contra- 
diction. 

I have first to call your Lordship's attention to the dutiful and 
loyal address of the House of Assembly to her Majesty, which I 
had the honour of moving at the close of the last session of the 
Legislature. That address is only an echo of the universal feelings 
of the people. After expressing their devoted loyalty and attach- 
ment to her Majesty's person and Government, and claiming for their 
constituents a moral and religious character not inferior to that 
of the people of any other portion of her Majesty's dominions, it 
states, *' That Newfoundland is nearly as large as England ; the 
inhabitants are settled in various harbours along the coast, far dis- 
tant from the capital and from each other ; surrounded by the 
unimproved wilderness, there is not, except in St. John's, a fort, 
garrison, or soldier ; and the civil force to preserve the peace in 
those distant settlements does not exceed one or two constables, 
and, in many harbours, not even one constable ; yet, notwith- 
standing, a civil or criminal process issuing from her Majesty's Court 
at St. John's can be executed in the most distant and most popu- 
lous districts in the island. As an example, we humbly beg to 
call your Majesty's attention to one case amongst others, which 
occurred during the heat and excitement of the contested elections of 



11 

1836. A number of persons were charged with a riot at the elec- 
tion that took place at Harbour Grace in Conception Bay. War- 
rants were issued for the apprehension of the parties accused. 
One constable proceeded from St. John's, arrested all the parties, 
brought them a distance of upwards of thirty miles to St. John's, 
where they were delivered over into the hands of justice." 

The parties arrested by this single constable were two of the 
representatives of the district, and some of the principal inhabitants 
of the town of Carbonear, then, and now represented to be in a 
disturbed state. These parties were tried before special juries 
selected from the political party opposed to them. Most of them 
were acquitted, and those who were found guilty and sentenced to 
fine and imprisonment were liberated by the order of my Lord 
Glenelg, as soon as he heard the particulars of the charges exhibited 
against them. 

These, my Lord, are notorious facts ; I repeat them from the 
Address of the House of Assembly ; I adduce them to prove the 
submission and obedience of the people to the laws and constituted 
authorities. I shall now give your Lordship recent proof of the 
general peaceful character of the inhabitants. In November last. 
Sessions of the Circuit Courts were held in St. John's, and the 
other judicial districts of the island ; the newly appointed and 
much respected Chief Justice Bourne presided in the Central 
Circuit Court at St. John's, Judge Desbarnes in the Southern 
District, and Acting Judge Silley in the Northern Circuit. I think 
I can fairly refer to the state of the criminal calendar in these 
courts, as a fair test as to the general conduct of the people ; to 
these they can refer as their best defence. Some two or tliree cases 
of assault and petty larceny came on for trial in the court of St. 
John's, and about an equal number in all the other districts of the 
island ; the electoral district of Conception Bay, containing up- 
wards of twenty-three thousand inhabitants, did not aiford a single 
case for trial, and for the greater part of the year the gaol did not 
contain a single person charged vdth a criminal offence. 

Immediately after the close of the Circuit Courts, a session of the 
Supreme Court was held at St. John's. In this court alone can capital 
offences be tried. Your Lordship must have been anxious to 
inquire how many of the turbulent, disorderly, and disloyal people 
of Newfoundland were held over for trial before this high court ; 
how many for treason and rebellion — for illegal and treasonable 
meetings — for seditious writings or speeches — for felonious attacks 
on life, person, or property— for murder or manslaughter. The 
gross amount of capital offences brought under the consideration of 
the Supreme Court were three : one man, a servant of the Honour- 
able Mr. Spearman, charged with setting fire to his master's stable ; 
an old woman, charged with an attempt to set fire to her own house ; 
and an unfortunate woman, charged with the murder of her bas- 
tard child. The two former, under the particulfir direction of the 



\2 

Learned Chief Justice, were acquitted, and tlie latter was only 
found guilty of the minor offence, namely, the concealment of the 
birth of her child. 

Being a magistrate, and a member of the grand jury, I pledge 
myself for the correctness of these statements in every particular. 

Your Lordship must find great difficulty in reconciling these 
facts with the statements so often and confidently repeated. My 
Lord Aberdeen, in his place in Parliament, at the close of the last 
session, when presenting a petition from certain parties, stated (no 
doubt from information he had received) that Ne^vfoundland was 
in as bad a state as Upper or Lower Canada. 

Charges of a similar nature were made not only by the Tory but 
the Liberal press both in England and Ireland. The merchants of 
London, Liverpool, Bristol, and Poole have called on the Govern- 
ment to send out an adequate military force to overawe the rebel- 
lious colonists, and the Chamber of Commerce at St. John's re- 
peat all the charges, and ask Her Majesty to inflict on the un- 
offending colonists the liighest punishment ^^ithin the range of 
Her Majesty's power, even when acting with the other branches 
of the Legislature, to subvert their Constitution and deprive them 
of their rights and pri\ileges as British subjects. 

The Chamber of Commerce in these petitions to the Queen at- 
tribute the illegal conduct of the people to the " atrocious" and 
"unprincipled" acts of the House of Assembly. If the charge 
against the people falls to the ground for want of proof, the charges 
agamst the House of Assembly must meet the same fate, setting 
aside the vague and general allegations against the House, wliich I 
shall endeavour to reply to by and by. The only clear and tangi- 
ble charge brought against the Assembly arises out of the com- 
mittals for breach of privileges of Mr. Kiely, Acting Judge LiUy, 
and the Sheriff". It must be admitted that the House of Assembly, 
in these cases, exercised power which should not be used except in 
cases of extreme necessity ; it has created a prejudice against the 
House of Assembly in this country difficult to remove. The 
opponents of free representative governments, in Newfoundland 
and elsewhere, have seized on it ^\dth a\idity, and made the most 
•of it. It is to be lamented that the House of Assembly should 
have found it necessary, in defence of their privileges, to act as they 
did ; whether they acted ^^^sely or judiciously, or otherwise, is not 
the question ; it is whether they were legally authorized to com- 
mit these persons for what they considered a high breach of their 
privileges. 

Your Lordship will admit, that after taking the first step, it was 
difficult for them to recede ; their privileges were questioned, not 
only in these cases, but in a variety of others ; every species of con- 
tumely and insult were heaped upon them. It appeared to be the 
opinion ^ the House that the time had come when it was necessary 
to a^sscn-t their privileges in the committal of the parties before 



13 

mentioned. It is to be regi'etted that they should have come in 
contact with the judicial and executive officers of the Government ; 
but even here the Assembly were not the aggressors. With scarcely 
the form of inquiry, the Acting Judge, on the \\Tit of Habeas Cor- 
pus, smmnarily decided a question of great importance, invoMng 
the very existence of the House of Assembly as a co-ordinate and 
supreme branch of the legislature. The parties aggrieved in these 
cases appealed to the laws for redress ; the House of Assembly 
submitted and pleaded to the charge. What more could be ex- 
pected from them ? Could they give a better example of their sub- 
mission and obedience to the laws ? 

I now come to the serious charge made by the Chamber of Com- 
merce of St. John's against the members of the House of Assembly, 
of holding treasonable correspondence with the Canadian rebels. 
They say this correspondence was disseminated iii the country 
through the medium of the press. Have they produced the cor- 
respondence to your Lordship ? I defy them to do so. No such 
correspondence ever took place. It is the mere phantom of their 
heated imagination, and this charge is a fair specimen of the other 
charges made by the Chamber of Commerce against the people of 
Newfoundland. A plain statement of facts will be quite sufficient 
to dispose of this charge. Some three or four years ago, long 
before any symptoms of revolution or insurrection broke out in 
the Canadas, circular letters were addressed to some of the leading 
men in the Lower Provinces in the reform mterest, by persons con- 
nected vdth the opposition party in Upper and Lower Canada. 
Some of these letters were addressed to Doctor Carson, the Speaker 
of the present House of Assembly ; he immediately submitted the 
letters to his friends, and consulted them on the course which he 
should adopt, when it was decided that it would be imprudent to 
mix up Ne^^-foundland with the Canadian dispute. The grievances 
complained of in Newfoundland were altogether of a local character ; 
we had no complaint to make against the parent Government, who 
had always compHed ^ith our just demands. It would be incon- 
sistent, ungenerous, and ungrateful for the refonn party in New- 
foundland to join in any outcry with persons who made such loud 
complaints against the Home Government, and many of whose 
objects were not only violent, but impracticable. As near as I can 
recollect facts, which have for years been altogether removed from 
my mind, this is the history of the frightful correspondence with 
the Canadian rebels, brought to light by the Chamber of Com- 
merce of St. John's, and wliich, if not discovered by them, nn"glit, 
like the Gunpowder Plot, have blo\\ni up British power and Pro- 
testant ascendancy together. I think I may state, that Dr. Carson 
never wrote one line in reply to these communications. 

As respects the propagation of principles of disloyalty and dis- 
affection to the Government and person of her most gracious 
Majesty, which the Chamber of Commerce so loudly charges 



14 

against the members of the House of Assembly in their addresses, 
I shall only say that I defy them to bring the slightest proof of 
their allegations. I confidently state, and I challenge them to 
prove to the contrary, that no member of the present Assembly, 
in the House or out of the House, was ever guilty of v^oriting or 
uttering sentiments of disloyalty to the Government, but quite the 
reverse ; they have been loud in their expressions of loyalty, and 
■ have invariably inculcated the same principles amongst their con- 
stituents. For the deliberate and unanimous opinion of the 
House of Assembly, I must again refer you to their last address 
to her Majesty. In that address, they state that the crime of 
disaffection to the Government was unknown in Newfoundland, — 
that the charge of treason or sedition was not, within the recollec- 
tion of the oldest inhabitant, made against any British subject in 
Newfoundland. This is the statement of the House of Assembly 
to her Majesty. I repeat the same, and confidently appeal to the 
records of her Majesty's courts of justice in confirmation. If the 
Chamber of Commerce of St. John's have stated any thing like 
truth in respect to the conduct of parties in Newfoundland, what 
have the Executive Government been about ? Have they allowed 
the apostles of rebellion to stalk about the land, corrupting the 
loyal principles of the people, unheeded and unpunished ? In 
justice to the gallant individual who represents her Majesty in 
that country, as well as the Attorney-General, I must defend them 
from the charge. If they remained silent spectators of the acts 
charged against the leading members of the House of Assembly, 
they are more guilty than the offending parties. 

The humble individual who has now the honour of addressing 
your Lordship may possibly claim the unenviable honour of being 
ranked amongst the leading members of the House of Assembly. 
From his youth he has taken a prominent part in the public affairs 
of the colony. I have been an active, if not a useful, agent in 
bringing about the various changes in the Government of New- 
foundland, — it has been the chief object of my life to obtain free 
institutions for Newfoundland, based on the principles of the 
unequalled Constitution of England. Possibly I have written and 
spoken more on the subject of Newfoundland than any other man. 
I may have been mistaken, — I may have been misled; but my 
sole object was to cement the connexion between Newfoundland 
and the parent country by the strong bonds of mutual interest and 
kindred affection. I was profoundly impressed with the conviction, 
that any measures calculated to promote the best interests of the 
one must be beneficial to the other. 

I crave pardon from your Lordship for this personal reference ; 
but as I must come in for a share of the general charge, I think it 
only justice to my own character to make this defence. I now 
shall dismiss that part of the charge against the House of Assembly, 
and call your Lordship's particular attention to the next charge — 



15 

the " unbounded influence of the Catholic clergy." The Catholic 
population and the members of the House of Assembly, according 
to the statement of the Chamber of Commerce, are mere tools and 
instruments in their hands, — so many automatau, ready at their 
bidding to commence the work of destruction. This appears the 
master grievance, that the Catholic priests and Catholic electors, 
" of late years emigrants from the south of Ireland," monopolize 
the whole of the representation. In reply to this statement, I 
have only to refer your Lordship to the late census, by which it 
will appear that the great majority of the electors are Protestants, 
not Catholics. 

The electoral district of 

Conception Bay, majority Protestants, return 4 members. 

Trinity Bay, great majority Ditto 1 ditto. 

Bonavista ditto Ditto 1 ditto. 

Fogo, ditto Ditto 1 ditto. 

Burin, ditto Ditto 1 ditto. 

Fortune Bay ... ditto Ditto 1 ditto. 

By this statement it vdll appear that the portions of the island 
where the Protestants are the great majority, return nine members. 

The district of 

St. John's, majority Roman Catholics, return 3 members. 

Faryland, ditto Ditto 1 ditto. 

St. Mary's and Placentia, Ditto 2 ditto. 

The Protestant majority return nine members; the Catholic 
minority only six members. Admitting that the Catholic priests 
have great influence over the Catholics, it will not be said that they 
possess equal influence over the Protestants. Can New^foundland 
be an exception to a rule that holds good in every other country 
where the majority rules the minority ? In the face of these facts, 
the Chamber of Commerce boldly assert that the present House of 
Assembly are the mere nominees of the Catholic priests. I do 
state, without fear of contradiction, that the Roman Catholic priests 
did not nominate one single member of the House of Assembly. 
Some of the priests joined their Protestant and Catholic brethren 
at the late elections; it was this union that carried the elections, 
and made opposition to the Liberal interest altogether powerless. 
I do not deny that the influence of the Catholic clergy in New- 
foundland is considerable; but there is no greater error than to 
suppose they can lead the people as they please in political matters. 
The Chamber of Commerce of St. John's may be forgiven for fall- 
ing into this error ; much higher persons in the state, and with 
vastly more experience, have deluded themselves with the same 
error. As a Roman Catholic, I l)oldly assert, that it is not the 
people who follow the priests, but the priests who follow the 
people in political matters. If the Roman Catholic priests of New- 
foundland joined with the Chamber of Commerce of St. John's in 
their petitions to Her Majesty for the establishment of despotic 



16 

government, tliey would not induce one hundred Roman Catholics 
to follow tlieir example. 

If the House of Assembly of Newfoundland are the mere pup- 
pets of the Roman Catholic priests, it is extraordinary that the 
Chamber of Commerce did not adduce some proof of their inter- 
ference, of acts passed or prepared for Catholic purposes. The 
Catholic members of the House of Assembly would not entertain 
any measure that had not for its object the good of ail classes 
without distinction. The House of Assembly must be judged by 
their own acts, not by the inflammatory unfounded charges of the 
Chamber of Commerce of St. John's. The Chamber of Commerce 
say, in their petition to the Queen, " To prove the inability of the 
Roman Catholics here to exercise political power independently, 
Ave need only state the fact which the experience of more than one 
occasion warrants us in asserting, that if it were thought practi- 
cable to shake the credit of this or any other petition, by a contra- 
diction of any facts contained in it, the priests could obtain in the 
course of a few hours some thousands of signatures, to be used as 
occasion might require ; attach them afterwards to such document as 
they might propose, support these statements on oath, and send them 
forward as the deliberate opinion of its subscribers." 

It is not my intention to defend the Catholic priests or people 
of Newfoundland from this wholesale charge of fraud, deceit, and 
perjury. The gross character of the charge carries vdth it its best 
refutation. It is to be lamented that the persons comprising the 
Chamber of Commerce of St. John's should be so blinied by their 
prejudice as to make this calumnious charge against the Catholics 
of Newfoundland. The Chamber of Commerce laud the acts of 
the first House of Assembly. " Several competent gentlemen" sat 
in the first House of Assembly. During the existence of that 
House (states the Chamber of Commerce in their address to the 
Queen) " the colony was kept free from debt, the public service 
was better performed than it has been since." Now, the colony 
is considerably in debt. " In every session acts are passed adding 
to that debt." These palpable misstatements can easily be detected 
by a reference to the public acts of both Houses. 

The first House of Assembly ran the country considerably into 
debt, — they had to pass an act for the issue of Treasury notes for 
the liquidation of the debt, which has since been paid off", — they 
passed an act authorizing commissioners to raise the sum of fifteen 
thousand pounds on loans to build a Colonial House, — they raised 
money on loans for the useful purpose of erecting lighthouses. 
To enable them to meet the increased expenditure, they, in direct 
opposition to the petitions of the merchants, and every other class 
of the community, placed taxes on most articles of import, pro- 
visions, live stock, potatoes, turnips, and every other description of 
vegetables. Every tax now levied under Colonial acts were laid 
on by tlie first House of Assembly. The present House of As- 



17 

sembly have not added one sliilling to the taxation ; but they have 
repealed the tax on live stock, potatoes, and vegetables, and would 
have removed the other taxes on bread and other provisions could 
they have done so w^ith due regard to the engagements bequeathed 
them by their predecessors. 

At the close of the year, a large amount of the appropriations 
of 1837 and 1838, for roads and for other purposes, remained 
unexpended in the public chest, and I think I can state that it is the 
fixed determination of the present House of Assembly not to add to 
if they cannot reduce, the present rate of imposts. The present 
House voted in tv^o years thirty-one thousand pounds for the 
making of roads throughout the island — more than any sum 
expended for the permanent improvement of Newfoundland since 
the time of Henry VII. 

The present House voted sums for a geological survey of the 
island, and for the encouragement of steam navigation, and dis- 
played a readiness on all occasions to promote any measure intended 
for the benefit of the trade and fisheries, as many of their acts will 
most clearly demonstrate. 

If a parallel is to be drawn between the present and the former 
House of Assembly, it must be by comparing their respective 
legislative acts. The first House of Assembly flooded the country 
with new laws, — many of them have since been found unsuitable to 
the country, and have fallen into disuse ; most of the others are 
the principal cause of the local complaints, and must continue a 
fruitful source of agitation until they are repealed. The principal 
merit of the present House is, that they passed fewer laws, and 
these have not been complained of by any party. 

I would wish to draw your Lordship's attention to the great and 
most important subjects the respective Houses legislated upon, — 
the criminal law, — and the expenditure of public money for 
making and repairing roads. 

The first House of Assembly passed what they called *' The 
Banishment of Offenders Act." This law is in direct violation of 
the English criminal law. It gives discretionary power to the 
judges to banish for minor offences, which under the English law 
can only be punished by fine or imprisonment; and gave them 
power to order minor offenders to work manacled on the high 
roads and streets ; and they can make such regulations for the dis- 
cipline of prisoners, before and after conviction, as they think 
proper. 

The present House of Assembly, by a simple act, adopt the Bri- 
tish criminal law with all its progressive improvements, and leave 
the Newfoundland judges to be governed alone by precedents in 
the Courts at Westminster. 

The first House passed acts for the repairing and making of 
roads, without placing the slightest control over the expenditure ; 
the consequence of which was, the money voted by them was 



18 

squandered in the most profligate manner, with the exception 
of St. John's, where it was expended under the direction of the 
able Surv yor-General, Mr. Noad, who acted as Chairman of the 
Board of Commissioners at St. John's. 

The present House of Assembly took every precaution against 
jobbing and peculation. The Governor was authorized to appoint 
a Board of Control at St. John's, to superintend the expenditure 
for public works through the island ; and until they were fully 
satisfied that the work was done agreeably with the lowest tender, 
the Governor was not authorized to issue his warrant for the pay- 
ment. I have no hesitation in saying, that no colony in British 
North America can produce an act where the expenditure of the 
public money for the making and repairing of roads is guarded 
with so much care. 

I now come to the fifth, and which T shall make the last charge 
brought against the House of Assembly and people of Newfound- 
land ; — it is, '* that they have proved themselves unfit for the exer- 
cise of the privileges granted to them by his late Majesty." The 
Chamber of Commerce of St. John's say "that the ignorant, be- 
sotted Catholics, irom the south-west of Ireland, are so bound by 
the magic spell of Popery, that they are quite incapable of pro- 
perly exercising political power." If, for the sake of argument, I 
admit the truth of all that has been said of the degraded state of 
the Catholics, surely that is no reason why the enlightened Pro- 
testant majority from England and Scotland, and the native inha- 
bitants of the country, should be deprived of their constitutional 
rights. The Catholics from the south-west of Ireland do not con- 
stitute a tenth of the population. To make their conduct a 
pretence for taking away the Constitution of Newfoundland, is so 
monstrous a doctrine that it merits no reply. The charge, after 
all, is not so much against the Catholics as it is against the people 
of Newfoundland ; and I cannot avoid expressing my astonishment, 
that any body of British merchants could deliberately state, in a 
memorial to the Queen of England, that Englishmen, Irishmen, 
Scotchmen, or their immediate descendants, residing in the oldest 
colony belonging to her Majesty, under no possible circumstances, 
could be fit or worthy to enjoy the blessings of the British Con- 
stitution. 

The Chamber of Commerce honestly state in their m.emorial 
to her Majesty, that public opinion is against them, and must 
continue so under every change of circumstances. " They so- 
lemnly assure her Majesty of their fixed conviction, a conviction 
equally entertained by nineteen-twentieths of all in the colony 
ca])al3le of judging, that no conduct of the Members of the 
Assembly, however unprincipled and atrocious, would render their 
return again a matter of the least doubt." Nothing could more 
clearly prove their weakness and utter incapacity to govern the 
country than this candid acknowledgment on their part. 



19 

Observe, my Lord, the dilemma they have placed themselves in. 
It is as much as if they said that their views of govermnent are so 
much opposed to the English and Protestant majority of electors of 
Newfoundland, that they have given up all hope of obtaining their 
suffrages to represent their interests in the third branch of the 
Legislature. 

My Lord, the Chamber of Commerce stated that the people of 
Newfoundland are unfit for self-government, and have petitioned 
her Majesty to establish a despotic government. I have to inform 
your Lordship, that, however ignorant the people of Newfoundland 
are, and particularly the " Roman Catholics from the south-west 
of Ireland," they will never exhibit their ignorance of government 
to such an extent as to join in the prayer for the establishment of 
despotic power ; — they may submit to such a government, they 
never will consent to it. Here I would ask your Lordship, is there 
no portion of her Majesty's dominions, no matter how remote, 
where an Irish Roman Catholic can sit downi under the shade of 
England's laws and constitution, without an offshoot from a certain 
party in England outraging their feelings as Irishmen and 
Christians ? 

The Chamber of Commerce of St. John's, and the merchants in 
England, have not established a single charge against either the 
people or their representatives. There is, therefore, no just cause 
why they should be deprived of their constitution. The mode of 
government proposed by them to supersede the present is abhor- 
rent to the British Constitution ; and until the people of New- 
foundland are proved guilty, no power can justly deprive them of 
their present free Constitution. A Grovernor and Council with 
legislative powers is the most objectionable government that could 
be inflicted on a free British colony. When such a government 
was established in Canada, immediately after the Conquest, it was 
denounced by the great, Lord Camden as "a civil despotism, in 
which the inhabitants of that immensely extended province were to 
be perpetually deprived of all share in the legislative power and 
support, in life, freedom, or property, to the arbitrary ordinances 
of a Governor in Council, appointed by the dependents on the 
Crown." 

Your Lordship is not the Minister that will ad\dse such a 
government for the most ancient and loyal colony belonging to Her 
Majesty. 

I have the honour to be, 
My Lord, 
Your Lordship's humble and obedient Servant, 

PATRICK MORRIS. 

London^ 22, Croivn-street^ 
March 20, 1839. 



E. SMITH AND CO., PRINTKRS, LORD-STREET, LIVERPOOL. 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 




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